Merlin's Gate
by InDiGo MaRcH
Summary: Sadly discontinued because of reasons.
1. One Simple Idea

**Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I offered her my life and soul in exchange for them, but she refused :(**

**Author's Note: THIS IS A SEQUEL! So, yeah, if you want to read the first one, be my guest. If not, don't worry about it. Also, thumbs up to Taylor for kicking my butt into gear on writing this, haha. XD**

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE  
****ONE SIMPLE IDEA**

* * *

**MORTIMER CARADOC:**

_**Inspired or Insane?**_

_Many would say that Professor Mortimer Caradoc, celebrated Arthurian Scholar, spent too much of his time chasing ideas than sticking with facts. Some could say he's obsessed with the enthralling idea of Camelot, the legendary kingdom of King Arthur and all who were in his court, including the iconic warlock Merlin. Even last year alone, Caradoc set off with a team of wizards in search of the mythical sunken city of Atlantis—an expedition that was kept relatively quiet after only Caradoc and one other member of his team came back from the oversea trip. From then on, Caradoc declined drastically in popularity, particularly after the only remaining survivor—apart from Caradoc—spoke out about his nightmarish trek with the Professor through the Atlantic Ocean._

"_I shan't say much," Trevor Gavin, a short yet formidable wizard, tells reporters the night of his return, where he was visited in his home by the _Daily Prophet. _The wizarding community was quite keen on knowing just why the team of seven well practiced wizards had mysteriously vanished on the voyage, excluding Caradoc and Gavin. "I've been told to keep quiet, you see," Gavin continues, looking dark. "Mortimer doesn't want it spread around…says he has a reputation to keep up."_

_Gold is to be suspected in keeping Gavin quiet on what exactly happened on the disastrous voyage, though Gavin did hint strongly on Caradoc's actions during the course of the expedition. "An idea, once planted, is almost impossible to control," says Gavin. "The idea of Atlantis was so firmly rooted into Professor Caradoc's mind that he'd think of little else. As the weeks stretched on endlessly, he became more and more impatient. All in all, he had a terrible temper."_

_Caradoc, naturally, said very little on what happened during the months he was at sea. He did, however, have this to say, "I regret more than anyone that my team was lost, and I take full responsibility. As for what outside sources may be suggesting, it was not I who caused their disappearance, and I am offended that any of my colleagues would even consider believing such downgrading accusations."_

_Though both Caradoc and Gavin were questioned by respected Ministry officials, nothing was learned of the fate of the missing members of Caradoc's expedition team. No more inquiries were made and the case was closed._

_Now, a little over a year later, Caradoc is once more a well-respected figure among various Arthurian Scholars, and again has many witches and wizards wagging their heads. Last Sunday Caradoc announced to the public that he believed he has found the legendary Camelot. This announcement was met not only with excitement, but outrage and disbelief._

"_I'm furious," Gavin told reporters upon being asked his opinion on Caradoc's latest claim, "and I pity the idiots thick enough to believe he's found _Camelot_."_

_Despite the negativity he's facing, Caradoc is still raising the necessary funds for an expedition. "All I need is a team," he says, "and then I'm off."_

_For more on Caradoc and his expedition, turn to page four._

* * *

Rose set her copy of the _Daily Prophet_ aside, her brow creased as she thought, absentmindedly buttering a piece of toast. The idea of someone finding Camelot was quite appealing to her, as she had always found herself rather fond of Arthurian Legend. It was this Professor Caradoc that troubled her, naturally. It wasn't easy to brush off the fact that his last expedition had gone wrong, that more than half of his team had gone missing, and no one knew why…

"What's that your reading, Rosie?" Albus asked curiously, leaning across the Gryffindor table to snatch up her discarded paper. He snorted upon seeing the front cover. "Ah, Caradoc. Dad told me about him. He gave the Aurors a bit of trouble with that Atlantis rubbish…" he scanned the article with no interest before throwing it back onto the table in front of her. "You done with that?" he then asked, indicating the bacon lying untouched on her plate. She silently handed her plate over to him, still looking thoughtful.

"Al…" she said slowly, studying him curiously, "what are you planning on doing this summer?"

"Jessica and I are going on a world tour," he told her, his voice casual, though his cheeks were a bit pink. "You know…a graduation kind of thing, before we start work…"

Rose didn't look impressed. "That's what _everyone _does, though," she said irritably, absentmindedly gazing over at the Slytherin table, where Scorpius sat eating with Jim Hawkins and a few others. He looked up and winked at her. Rose rolled her eyes but smiled, then looked back at her cousin, who looked a bit disgruntled.

"What else is there to do?" he asked. "Besides, seeing the world? What's wrong with that?"

Rose once more studied the front cover of the _Prophet_. Caradoc was depicted there, a tall and thin aging wizard with streaks of gray in his black hair. Flashes illuminated him as photos were taken by eager reporters: Caradoc seemed to be addressing a crowd, and was looking exuberant and lively as he talked.

Albus followed her gaze down to the paper, and let out a laugh. "What? You can't honestly be thinking of joining some crackpot's expedition searching for Camelot, are you?"

"So what if I am?" Rose shot back. "And he's not a crackpot, he's a genius!"

"He lost his team in the Atlantic Ocean, Rose!" said Albus, looking grim. "He's mad."

"There was no proof it was his fault, only that Gavin man's shifty hints," Rose pointed out. "And if you ask me, he sounds pretty suspicious, discrediting Caradoc's name like that—it's rude."

"Rude? Can you blame him?" demanded Albus, looking angry. "Rose, something happened on that voyage—"

"I can read, thanks," said Rose coolly. "And I don't deny that, but you can't just going pointing fingers…there's no proof it was either of them, for all we know they could've been attacked by something else entirely."

"And doesn't that make searching for Camelot all the more interesting!" said Albus hotly.

"What's interesting?"

Both of them looked up at Jessica Poe, who had just entered the Great Hall and was looking between the two cousins curiously.

"Rose has the sudden urge to search for mythical Arthurian kingdoms," Albus told her, thrusting the paper into her hands.

Jessica took the _Prophet_ and sat down, her eyes already fixed on the article about Caradoc.

Rose was once again glaring daggers at Albus. "It's not _mythical_—"

"Oh, yeah? Then why hasn't anyone found it until now? It's supposed to have existed for centuries, hasn't it?"

"I dunno! Maybe everyone's just been looking in the wrong place!"

"You can't just hide an entire kingdom, Rose—"

"Maybe it's Unplottable, dill-wad! Like countless of other magical sites—Hogwarts being one of them!"

Albus opened his mouth furiously to retaliate, but Jessica shushed him and set aside the paper. "Rose, you do realize this Caradoc guy's team went—"

"—missing! Yes I know! I read the article, too!"

"Then what in the name of Merlin's dirty laundry would you want to go on one of his expeditions for?" asked Jessica.

"Thank you!" said Albus loudly, slamming his palm down on the table and causing several heads to turn in alarm.

"_Because_," Rose stressed, ignoring Albus, "I want to do something _other_ than _travel the world_ after graduation. Come _on_," she groaned, "_everyone's_ going to be doing that! In fact, Alicia has already told me she's doing the same thing, with Victoria and a bunch of others in our year!"

Jessica still looked unsatisfied, "But, Rose, they went _missing_…and Caradoc's already been suspected—"

"He didn't do it," said Rose stubbornly.

"How do you know?" Jessica asked kindly, as if speaking to a most stubborn child.

"Because there's no proof," said Rose.

Albus snorted. "Yeah, there's no proof! It doesn't mean he _didn't_ do it."

"It doesn't mean he did do it, either!" snapped Rose.

Albus rolled his eyes. "I'm not arguing with you, Rose. We're not even graduating for another three weeks, so there's no use in worrying about summer holidays anyway."

"Where are you going?" Jessica asked as he stood up.

"To study," he grumbled with a pained expression on his face. "N.E.W.T.s start next week, and if I want to get enough for Auror training, well…" he trailed off hopelessly, shrugged, and followed Jackson Shephard and Tori MacMillan out of the Great Hall.

"Shouldn't you study too?" Rose asked Jessica.

She raised an eyebrow. "I could ask you the same thing."

"…good point," said Rose, standing up herself. "To the library!"

"Yay…" said Jessica, hardly enthusiastic.

As they walked, Rose couldn't help but mull once more over Caradoc and his claims to have found Camelot. Even if it all were a load of bullocks, what would be the harm in searching for the lost kingdom? She was more interested in the adventure of it, not necessarily in _finding_ it (though that would be spanking, if they did, since it was _Camelot_, after all).

They were half way up the Grand Staircase when a voice stopped them.

"Oi! Weaslebee!"

Jessica, who had a smirk on her face, said, "I'll wait in the library, Rose," and then continued on up the stairs, sneering. Rose scowled after her, then turned and walked back down the stairs and towards Scorpius who had a grin on his face.

"What's up with you?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" she asked indifferently.

He continued grinning cheekily, and leaned closer to her. "You haven't given me a kiss good morning!"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Scorp, must I kiss you every morning?"

"You must," he said with a nod. "Otherwise, I would start to believe you've lost interest in me."

Rose rolled her eyes again, but complied more than happily. "I'm off to study," she then said, much to his disappointment, "and you'd be wise to do the same," she added sternly.

"I don't need to study," he muttered, "I'm bloody brilliant."

Rose merely smiled and hurried to catch up with Jessica.

"So…did you get your—" Jessica struck a dramatic pose, "—daily dose of vitamin _Slytherin_?"

"As a matter of fact I did," Rose said without any trace of embarrassment. It would appear that saving the wizarding world from an evil Voldemort wannabe tended to take care of trivial things such as blushing.

Giggling, the two girls entered the library and found a quiet table to sit down at and torture themselves with studying, while trying to ignore the evident sounds of younger N.E.W.T-free students enjoying themselves outside on the sunlit grounds.

"I utterly despise Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests," Rose sighed after an hour of cramming her brain with so much information it felt as though it were nothing but mush.

"You think you're the only one?" Jessica demanded bitterly, her eyes red from glaring for an hour at nearly seven years' worth of Charms notes.

"Well, no, definitely not," said Rose, remembering quite vividly Chelsea Corner bursting into tears during last Thursday's Transfiguration lesson when she transfigured a black mustache onto her partner instead of a blonde one.

Jessica seemed to be thinking along the same lines as her, and promptly hid her grin behind her Potions book, because Chelsea happened to walk by at that very moment, looking distraught and carrying an armful of books.

"Honestly, I don't see how anyone can be _that_ worked up about N.E.W.T.s," Rose whispered as Chelsea walked away.

"You know how those Ravenclaws are," Jessica muttered with a roll of her eyes, "they have to get 'Outstanding' in everything, or they'll consider their life a complete waste and attempt suicide—"

Rose looked alarmed. "Surely not!"

Jessica's expression was dark. "Rosie, the mustache was the wrong color and she acted as though her mother had died. That's not _normal_."

"Well, no, but _suicide?"_

Jessica merely gave her a pointed look and then returned her attention to her notes, glaring at the large pile of parchment as if it had greatly offended her.

Rose, who felt physically sick at the thought of more studying, turned in her chair and absentmindedly stared out the window, where she had a clear view of the Quidditch Pitch. Someone—Scorpius, perhaps?—was out flying, expertly dodging Bludgers.

Jessica looked up from her notes and caught her gazing longingly at the Pitch.

"No, not until after lunch," she told her friend sternly.

"Oh, please, it's nice out—"

"_No_," Jessica snapped, "Rose, ever since you joined the team you've been _completely_ anti-study! You used to be, well, the biggest _nerd_!" Her voice dropped to a dramatic whisper, "You were worse than Chelsea Corner is!"

Rose immediately became rather defensive. "I was not! Not _that_ bad!"

"Okay, maybe you didn't cry all the time, but you cared about your grades—"

"I care about my grades!"

"Then _study_!"

Glaring at Jessica, who was now openly gloating, Rose yanked her book back towards her, and for good measure turned her seat away from the window so she wasn't tempted to jump out of it in a vain bid for freedom.

They fell back into suffocating silence, glaring evilly and "shhh-ing" anybody who dared to be too loud in the library, something the painfully ancient librarian Madam Pince seemed to greatly appreciate.

"We must never do Madam Pince a kindness again," said Jessica once she and Rose were on their way to lunch a few hours later. "Telling those little snotrags to shove it seems to have made her want to snog us or something."

Rose gagged. "Jess—no…"

Jessica laughed, leading the way into the Great Hall. Albus was already at the Gryffindor table and was, inexplicably, beaming.

"Salad?" he grinned, offering the bowl to Rose and Jessica before they had even taken their seats.

"What're you so happy about?" Jessica demanded as she plopped down in a seat looking haughty. "You have no reason to be happy!" she continued, snatching the bowl out of his hands. "If _I_ can't be happy, no one can be happy!"

As she continued muttering angrily to her plate, Rose looked at Albus. "Why _are_ you happy?"

"Oh, no reason," he said airily, spooning some mashed potatoes into his mouth and looking as if he hadn't a care in the world. In fact, once he had finished eating, he practically pirouetted from the room, unnaturally graceful.

"Erm…okay…" said Rose, shaking her head and wondering if the stress of the exams were finally getting to Albus as well. Maybe it started out that way for Chelsea Corner. Perhaps she became unnaturally cheerful and pranced everywhere.

Jessica, who had been stabbing her food with barely suppressed rage, didn't notice Albus make his dramatic departure.

"What's got your panties all bundled up?" Rose inquired, wondering briefly if Jess had just gone mad as well.

The question seemed to snap Jessica out of whatever trance she had been in, for she seemed quite surprised to see her mutilated meat.

"I don't even know," she admitted after a minute. For the rest of lunch, she was quite cheerful.

Rose could hardly wait for the N.E.W.T.s to be over with. It appeared she was the only sane one at the moment.

* * *

_Dear Rose,_

_Frankly, I'm not surprised in the slightest that you've become so interested in the likes of Mortimer Caradoc and his…ah…proclamation. Nor am I surprised that you contacted _me_ first. Yes, I have a fairly high chance of getting a few words about you to Caradoc. However, I strongly advise you against having any sort of contact with the man. Surely you know all about his disastrous voyage across the Atlantic? _

_Besides, I'm sorry to say my physical well-being is much more important to me than any sort of graduation adventure you'd fancy to take part of. Yes, even now Uncle Ron scares me. He'd have a stroke if you suggested he allow you to go on some expedition for Camelot._

_Good luck on your N.E.W.T.s!_

_Teddy_

* * *

"Ha!" said Albus, who had read the letter over her shoulder at breakfast the morning of their first exam. "Even Ted agrees with us!"

Rose's lips remained pursed as she set the scroll of parchment down next to her oatmeal.

"Why is everyone so against Caradoc?" she demanded.

Jessica rolled her eyes. "For the _millionth time_, Rose, his team went _missing_! Imagine how everyone would feel if that was _you_!"

"I can take care of myself, thanks. Does no one remember how I handled everything that happened last summer-?"

"You weren't all alone, though," Albus pointed out. "You had those Avenger blokes, and then that Greyback guy."

"How is Octavius anyway?" asked Jessica.

Rose glared at the two of them. "Don't change the subject! And I was alone for part of all that stuff!"

"Whatever, Rose," Albus shook his head, looking agitated. "I'm off for some last minute studying before the Charms N.E.W.T. Try not to bother me with your Camelot rubbish, okay?"

Rose watched him stalk off and then turned on Jessica, who looked as if she'd much rather be studying too then listening to Rose.

"Rosie, yes, I think it would be a wonderful adventure," she said softly, "but not with this Caradoc fellow. I don't like the idea of him…"

"_I want to find Camelot_!" she hissed.

Jessica sighed. "Lovely, brilliant, whatever you'd like. Just not with Mortimer Caradoc. His team went missing!"

"Stop telling me that, I _know_! And if he's already got the funds and everything _for_ an expedition, why would I bother starting my own? There's no sense in that!"

"There's no sense in you wanting to go!" Jessica snapped, standing up from the table.

"It's a simple _idea_!" Rose insisted, standing up too. "I just want to go along, really! Just for the sake of going! Even if the whole thing is a big waste of time, I just want to _do_ something!"

Jessica only shook her head and walked out of the Great Hall, leaving Rose fuming.

Scorpius walked over from the Slytherin table, obnoxiously cheerful. "Why's everyone so upset?" he asked, beaming at all the stressed and worn faces of his fellow seventh years, Rose in particular. "It's a lovely day—"

Rose rounded on him. "Have you and Albus overdosed on Cheering Charms again?"

"What? No, no, been there done that," he grinned. "Al nearly took off my head for letting him do ballet during Potions—" When she continued glaring, he frowned. "Seriously, what's your problem? You've been grouchy an awful lot lately. It can't just be stress from the exams—"

"Did you ever read that article in the _Prophet_ about the Arthurian Scholar?"

"Yep," said Scorpius, nodding.

"I want to go on his expedition."

"Brilliant," he said.

Rose blinked. "Brilliant?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, brilliant."

"Why brilliant? Everyone else thinks I'm barking."

"Well, you are barking, for one thing," said Scorpius, "but the idea is brilliant. Dad's actually helping fund Caradoc's expedition to Wiltshire."

"Wiltshire?" Rose repeated, looking surprised.

"Yeah, apparently that's where Caradoc says Camelot is," he shrugged, looking bored as he watched Leia Smith practice levitating spells on her fork and spoon. "Caradoc's been pining for Dad to go on the expedition, but he's not well enough to travel."

"Your _dad_ knows _Caradoc_?"

"Yeah, Dad donates money to Caradoc's department or something," said Scorpius, now itching his nose and avoiding her eye. "Look, Rose, I know what you're about to ask, and the answer is a big fat N-O."

"But you just said the idea is brilliant!"

"I didn't say I think _Caradoc_'s brilliant—"

Rose sighed explosively. "Not you too! Would everyone just stop falsely accusing him?"

"How do you know it's falsely?" asked Scorpius, irritatingly patient.

Seeing herself getting nowhere with her current tactics, Rose suddenly smiled coyly at him. "Hey, Scorpius?"

Blinking at the sudden change in attitude, Scorpius watched her twirl her hair around her finger warily. "What…?"

* * *

"I can't believe you talked me into this," Scorpius grumbled.

"Can't you?" asked Rose with some amusement. "Honestly, I really didn't know I had it in me…I guess female persuasion really does work…"

Scorpius glared at her. "Of course it works! It's cruel, toying with me like that."

"I'm sorry," she said, adopting a wide-eyed innocent expression.

"Stop that!" he snapped, returning his attention to the letter he was supposed to be writing.

Rose grinned, and distracted herself by walking around the length of the Owlery, listening to the sounds of Scorpius's quill scratching quickly across the parchment.

"There, done, send it before I change my mind."

Rose turned away from the window, where she had been standing stroking the feathers of one of the school's owl. She took the note from Scorpius and secured it to the owl's leg.

"I can't promise you anything," Scorpius told her as she carried the owl back to the window.

"I know," said Rose, watching the owl take off across the sky. She turned to beam at Scorpius. "It's the thought that counts, right?"

He snorted. "I suppose."

Still smiling, she said softly, "Thank you."

His cool demeanor quickly dissolved as he smiled back. "You're welcome."

Leading the way back down the winding steps of the tower, Rose laughed and said, "You're hopeless, Scorpius."

"I blame you."

* * *

**End Note: First chapters always kick my butt :/**


	2. NEWTs

**Disclaimer: Yeeeaaahhh…no :(**

**Author's Note: I finally got the chance to write again! :P Anyway, here's chapter two. **

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**N.E.W.T.s**

* * *

Rose never knew it was possible to hate one specific sound with a fiery burning passion that put Hades to shame until it came to taking her N.E.W.T.s.

Her head was pounding, her hand was aching, and she had lost all feeling in her behind not even fifteen minutes into her Charms written examination.

It didn't help her flaring temper that she could hear Scorpius snoring a few seats behind her, having finished his own paper what felt like a thousand years ago.

But it wasn't his snoring that was grating on her ears: it was the sound of hundreds of quills, scratching thunderously across parchment, as her own stood stock still over the last question that glared tauntingly up at her.

One last terrible question and she would be done with Charms.

Yet she had been stuck on this last demonic question for a good ten minutes. Her brain felt like pudding and she felt as if someone was hitting her repeatedly over the head with a beater's bat. The exam had come to her mostly with extraordinary ease, but now she couldn't think of any sort of sensible answer for the life of her.

"Five more minutes!" Professor Flitwick chirped to them from the front of the Great Hall.

Rose felt panic surge through her, and she stabbed desperately at her parchment. _Think, woman!_

The seconds raced by.

"Three more minutes!"

_GAH! ROSE!_

Rose face-palmed when the answer literally hit her; Albus, seemingly bored out of his mind, had flicked a corner of his own examination paper at her.

She wrote down something that sounded ridiculously intellectual, and then set her quill down just as Flitwick called time.

"_Accio!"_ he shouted, and the examination papers flew from their desks and towards the little Charms professor, who dove out of the way before they could knock him off of his perch. "You're dismissed!" he called, dusting himself off.

"So how'd you do?" Jessica asked a bit cheerfully as she fell into step with Rose. "I think I did really well—I'm actually quite amazed I got through the whole thing without any real hassle."

"Hassle, yeah," said Rose, rubbing her temples tiredly.

"Now all we have to do is the practical, and we're done with Charms!" Jessica babbled on as they made their way outside onto the ironically cheerful grounds. Rose glared at the sunny blue sky. It should be stormy and rainy and generally awful weather.

"That last question was tricky, though," Jessica continued as they took their customary seats underneath the birch tree. "_What is the customary spell for—"_

"Jess, I _really_ don't feel like talking about our exams," Rose cut in smoothly.

"Oh no, you think you did awful, don't you?" Jessica asked her nervously.

"_No_, I just don't want to _talk about it_."

Before Jessica could say anything, Albus hurried over to them. "Can't talk long—off to practice some spells with Jackson—you haven't got any chocolate would you?"

"Why?" asked Jessica, raising an eyebrow.

"I heard from Jimmy MacMillan that the instructor for the practical pretty much lives off of it—"

"So you're going to bribe her?" Jessica raised both eyebrows.

"No, not bribe her, just get her in a good mood that will make her more inclined to give me good marks," said Albus.

"So, yeah, basically bribe her," Rose rolled her eyes.

Albus glared at her. "Anyway, do you?"

"No, and I advise you not to listen to anything Jimmy MacMillan says, Al. I'd think you'd learn not to by now."

After he stalked off angry and empty handed, Rose looked over at Jessica. "What do you even see in him?"

* * *

Practical Exams: Every N.E.W.T. student's worst nightmare—unless you're Scorpius, Rose thought bitterly, more than annoyed when she caught him laughing and talking at lunch with one of the Charms instructors, who was drinking in his every charismatic word eagerly.

"How does he do it?" she demanded of Jessica, turning away from the scene.

"Do what?" Jessica asked distractedly as she practiced pouring herself some pumpkin juice with a tricky levitating spell.

"Make everyone _like_ him!"

"Well, let's see…. He's brilliant, outgoing, good-looking, wears awesome shoes, and his hair is pretty."

Rose snorted. "His hair is pretty?"

"It is! Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

"Of course I've noticed. I just wouldn't call it pretty."

"What would you call it then?"

"…sexy…"

After the two of them were done laughing, their somber pre-exam mood settled back over the table.

"Just think…this time in three weeks we'll be graduating!" Jessica said brightly.

And with the mention of graduation, Rose once more began to think about Camelot.

It felt like Scorpius had mailed the letter to his father days ago, when in actuality it had only been this morning.

Jessica noticed her thoughtful silence. "What are you thinking about?"

"Oh, graduation," Rose said airily.

Jessica looked at her suspiciously. "You're not still over the moon about that Camelot expedition are you?"

"So what if I am?"

Jessica merely sighed, shook her head, and spooned more mashed potatoes into her mouth.

After lunch was over and everyone had filed out of the Great Hall, the doors were closed in their faces as the instructors prepared for the practical exams.

"Hey, look on the bright side—"

"There is no bright side," Rose snapped at Albus, who had joined her and Jessica in the Entrance Hall only moments before.

"Sure there is! We're not the _only_ ones suffering through exams. The fifth years have their O.W.L.s."

"O.W.L.s?" Rose laughed scornfully. "Gee, poor little babies, suffering through O.W.L.s! Their futures aren't on the line, are they?"

Albus raised his eyebrows. "Someone's a bit edgy."

"Ha, am I?"

"Rose, you're being ridiculous," Jessica said, looking annoyed.

Rose opened her mouth angrily, but before she could say anything, Professors Johnson, Longbottom, and Flitwick stepped out of the Great Hall.

"Smarten up, you lot," said Neville loudly over the strong babble of voices. "The exams are about to start."

"You'll be called alphabetically in groups of five," Flitwick added, unrolling a long scroll of parchment.

Rose sighed. Being 'Weasley, Rose' meant she'd be one of the last to take the test. She sat herself down on the bottommost step of the grand staircase and tried to get comfortable as "Boot, Burke, Corner, Cashmere, and Davies," were called.

"Ready, Weaslebee?" Scorpius asked with a cheeky grin as he sat next to her.

"Oh, done snogging the instructor, are you?" she snapped, causing his grin to widen.

"Jealous, Rose?"

She snorted, "Hardly, she's one hundred and fifty."

Jessica and Albus, who were close by, rolled their eyes and shook their heads at the two of them.

Scorpius just kept grinning. "She's had a lot of experience, then."

Rose allowed a small smile. "I hope her dentures didn't fall out."

He looked confused. "Dentures?"

Albus and Rose's raucous laughter was drowned out as Professor Johnson called, "Finnigan, Goldstein, Goyle, Hawkins, and Kataiff."

"Today is taking _forever_," Rose groaned.

Scorpius looked right at ease. "I think it's a lovely day."

Nearly everyone in hearing range shot him a look full of malice for daring to suggest it was a lovely day.

Scorpius was oblivious to their glares as he grinned lazily at the room.

"Oh, no, it's almost our turn," Jessica fretted, pacing back and forth across the Entrance Hall. The remaining seventh years watched her progress with bored expressions.

It was to Rose's immense relief—for it got rid of both Jessica _and_ Scorpius—when Professor Flitwick appeared and called, "Malfoy, Mellark, Nott, Poe, and Potter" into the Great Hall.

"Good luck!" she told them as they began the dramatic journey into the Great Hall.

"Thanks, love, but I don't need any," Scorpius told her with a characteristic arrogant smirk.

Rose was quite glad to see the doors shut behind them.

After that, Rose lost track of time. As the minutes ticked by agonizingly slow, she found herself switching her position on the stairs every few seconds, and after finding herself flat on her back with her head hanging off the step, decided sitting down wasn't working, so she took up Jessica's pacing, all sorts of spells and incantations flying through her mind, her wand twirling subconsciously between her fingers.

"Yes," Milo Zabini was telling Kiara Thomas loudly, "Father wishes for me to pursue a job with the Ministry. He's always telling me I have the refinement _and_ the intellectual cuttings for a high-ranking job."

Kiara and Rose exchanged smirks when Milo wasn't looking.

They were saved from the rest of his monologue as Professor Longbottom walked out.

"Are you the only ones left?" he asked, smiling at Rose, Kiara, Milo, Jackson Shephard, and a girl Rose recognized as Amanda Radkirk.

"Let's skip the small talk and get this over with," Rose told Neville irritably.

He smiled understandingly at her. "It's not as bad as you think."

"It's worse, I expect," Jackson said pompously. "These exams are meant to challenge us, after all! They're supposed to be difficult!"

Neville looked amused. "You're too much like Melvin."

"_Anyway_," Rose cut in, not knowing who Melvin was and not caring that Jackson acted like him, "can we just take our exam?"

"Of course, right, sorry," said Neville smoothly, turning around and opening the doors once more to the Great Hall. "Pick an instructor, and directions will be given to you. Good luck," he added with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah," Rose said, walking over to a small instructor who looked as though he could be distantly related to Professor Flitwick.

The instructor smiled brightly when he caught sight of her. "Rose Weasley, I presume? Your red hair gives you away!"

"Yeah, and my name's on that list you've got there in your hand."

He laughed a little, looking amused. "More like Ron, I see."

"You really mean that? People generally assume I'm more like my mother, partly because I tend to be a bit of a know-it-all sometimes."

He laughed again, and they shook hands as he grinned and said, "I'm Professor Murdock, pleasure to meet you. Now, shall we begin?"

"We shall," Rose smiled.

After quite a few tricky spells and incantations—one of which resulted in charming Professor Murdock's desk to do a series of amazing acrobats—Rose completed her practical exam with, what she felt at least, flying colors.

"How'd you do?" Jessica squealed as soon as Rose made her way into the full Common Room a few minutes or so later.

"I think I did brilliantly," Rose grinned.

"You didn't blow anything up?" she asked nervously.

"Why? Did you?"

Jessica's eyes widened and she pointedly looked in Albus's direction. The poor lad was staring forlornly out the window, sighing dramatically every few moments.

"Oh, no, what happened?" Rose whispered, dropping into the empty seat next to Jessica.

"Well, as far as I know, he was doing excellent, until…well…there was this huge explosion," Jessica told her softly. "Instead of levitating something or another, he had blown up his instructor's desk."

Rose grimaced sympathetically in her cousin's direction. "How much do you reckon they'll take off for that?"

"Hopefully not _too_ much…I mean, it was quite impressive, even if it was the wrong spell," Jessica relented.

Rose nodded, and then asked a bit too casually, "And…ah…how did Scorpius do?"

Jessica smirked at her, but then said, "Brilliantly, as always."

* * *

Over the next two weeks, the seventh year N.E.W.T. students came to the collected conclusion that they were in Hell. The examinations weren't necessarily the issue—in actuality, they could have been quite simple, were it not for the fact that their futures and their careers relied on how well they performed. If one was to fail an exam, there was a whole other year in which they would have to wait until retaking the test, and nothing was more degrading than the thought of having to go through it all a second time.

After Charms, it was Potions. Coupled with the stress of the test, and the noxious fumes of the many concoctions, many were lucky to get through the practicals with a clear head. Some of the students performed Bubble-head Charms, though this idea—at first thought of as brilliant—quickly turned out to make potion-making a trifle more difficult, since the bubble obscured their vision somewhat and made it hard to see their cauldron clearly at all. It didn't help that the Instructors breathed down their necks during the whole thing, the meaner Professors tutting and snickering at any mistake.

Following Potions was Transfiguration, which proved to be even more demanding than the latter. Though it was a great relief to get away from the putrid smells of badly concocted potions, Transfiguration called for quick wit and the ability to remember all of the correct wand movements and the spells that belonged to them.

For Herbology, the students slaved away in the hot greenhouses tending plants with toothy mouths that seemed to have a great taste for human flesh. After nearly losing a hand, her trimmers, and a clump of her hair, Rose miraculously managed to satisfactorily extract the necessary potion ingredients (roots, pods, etcetera) from the demonic plant.

Rose didn't even bother trying in her History of Magic exam. However, she did catch up with a well-deserved nap.

The Defense Against the Dark Arts exams were another matter entirely. Faced with all sorts of curses and poisons, and even dark magical creatures, students were lucky to get through the exam without a scratch.

"I swear…these practicals are a bit unorthodox, don't you think?" Rose growled, tapping her arm with her wand and healing a long and bleeding gash courtesy of a Red Cap instantly.

Her instructor noted her skill in healing the wound so easily and hinted strongly of bonus points, and Rose was beaming by the time her exam was finished.

So it was with much gusto that on the very last day, after the very last N.E.W.T. exam, the doors were thrust open dramatically and the seventh years ran out onto the grounds, laughing and screaming—and in the case of Chelsea Corner, sobbing hysterically with relief.

"I think I did well," Rose told Scorpius happily, stretching out underneath the birch tree and resting her head in his lap. "I'm pretty confident I got 'Exceeds Expectations' in everything…maybe even managed to scrape up a few 'Outstanding's."

"Congratulations," he said with a grin. "I, on the other hand, know for a fact I got 'Outstanding's in everything."

Rose rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "I'm going to laugh in your face if you're wrong."

"Yeah, I don't doubt that."

"We're doooneee!" Jessica sang loudly as she collapsed next to them with Albus in tow. "Ah, sweet relief."

"How do you think you did?" Scorpius asked Albus.

"Decent," Albus said modestly.

Jessica smacked him lightly on the shoulder. "You did excellent, and you know it!"

"Well…at least I didn't blow anything up this time," Albus said with a grin.

They all fell into a comfortable silence, and Rose was actually just about to drift off to sleep when Scorpius suddenly said to her, "I almost forgot, Dad wrote back."

Rose sat up so fast their heads smacked together painfully.

"Ow!" they both hissed, clutching their heads. Albus and Jessica tutted at them with smirks on their faces.

"Well, what did he say?" Rose asked anxiously, rubbing her temple tenderly.

"See for yourself," Scorpius muttered, digging in his pocket and pulling out a folded envelope.

Rose snatched it at once and the three others watched her rip out the parchment. In silence, they merely stared at her as her eyes flew across the paper.

After a few minutes in which no one spoke, Jessica cleared her throat. "So…what does it say?" she asked, looking a bit annoyed.

Rose looked over the edge of the parchment at them. Albus and Jessica raised their eyebrows questioningly and Scorpius snorted and shook his head with a grin on his face.

"He said…well, he said," Rose cleared her own throat, and a wide smile split across her face, "he said yes."

* * *

**End Note: Weee :P**


	3. Grounded

**Disclaimer: They see me Rowling and they be hatin' :P**

**Author's Note: OK, here I go. Again. **

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE**

**Grounded**

* * *

"We're getting old," Hermione announced to Ron at breakfast.

It was about a week after graduation (it was a lovely ceremony, by the way, with the typical graduating stuff, cake, dancing—the whole shebang), and ever since leaving Hogwarts, Rose had been locked in her bedroom, the only signs of life the occasional opening of her door to permit food.

"Did you hear me, Ron?" she said loudly when he didn't appear from behind his copy of the _Daily Prophet_.

"What was that, dear?"

"We. Are. Getting. _Old_."

He slapped his paper down and stared at her. "You don't look a day over twenty-nine," he said automatically.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "This isn't me complaining about how old I am, Ronald."

He continued staring at her. "You're not complaining? You're obscenely old and you're _not_ complaining?"

She scowled. "Be serious, Ron! There was a point in my bringing up our obscenely old age."

"Was there?" he asked, inching his paper back up. She slapped it down again onto the table and glared at him.

"_Ron_, our daughter just graduated."

"I know, I was there—house elves really out did themselves, didn't they? Best cake I ever tasted," he tugged the _Prophet_ out from underneath her hand and snapped it open again.

Hermione sat back in her chair and picked up the mug of coffee she had been drinking. She brought it to her lips, but didn't drink it as she continued glaring at him over the lip of her cup.

After a moment he sighed and set his paper back down. "Stop looking at me like that," he said.

"Listen to what I have to say, then."

"Alright, I'm all ears," he said, leaning back in his own chair.

"We're getting old," she repeated for the third time.

"And?"

She opened her mouth, closed it, and shook her head.

"What?" he prompted, raising an eyebrow.

She took a deep breath. "Well," she smiled slightly. "I feel like…we've just been…Rose having just graduated…I've realized…"

Ron grinned. "Hermione, you're not making much sense. Not that you ever have before, but…" he trailed off, laughing a little.

"Right, sorry," she said, suddenly blushing. Now Ron looked a bit concerned, which made her blush even harder. "Gees, I don't know what's wrong with me," she apologized, hiding her face in her hands.

"You're not going through a midlife crisis are you, dear?" he asked nervously.

Hermione's mouth snapped open in surprise, but before she could answer, there was a rapid knock on the door. Ron stood up and went to answer it, and as soon as he disappeared around the corner, Hermione slapped a hand to her forehead.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she muttered, her own voice blocking out the sound of chatter coming from the front hall and then the marching of feet towards the kitchen.

"Look who's dropped by, Hermione!" Ron said as he walked into the room again, followed closely by Avanell (Chief Healer from St. Mungo's, in case you didn't know).

"Avanell! What an unexpected surprise!" said Hermione, standing to give her a hug. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I thought I'd drop by, see how things were going," she said casually, looking around the room. "Where's Rose?"

"She's upstairs," said Hermione, still looking a bit surprised to see her. "Did you need to talk to her? Ron, go get her—"

"No, no, I'd rather not talk to her," Avanell told them hastily, sitting down in Ron's recently vacated seat. When they looked even more surprised, she added, "Rose has been a bit unclear with me, in her last few letters."

Hermione and Ron exchanged baffled looks, and then took to staring at their visitor. "What do you mean?" Hermione asked, her brow creased. "Unclear? I don't understand."

"Nor do I," Avanell told them truthfully. "I received a letter from her a few days ago, saying she couldn't make the wedding, and she never really explained why."

"She can't make the wedding?" Hermione repeated, looking shocked. "I don't see why she couldn't—"

"She said she'd be out of the country, off on some trip," Avanell replied. "Now, I've heard all about the graduation world trip, but I checked with Albus Potter, and he assured me they'd be back long before the wedding. I just wanted to know if she was going on some other trip...? If you knew?"

"We've heard nothing of the sort," Ron said, blinking, "but I assure you we will find out."

"It's none of my business," Avanell hurried to say. "Really, if she can't make it, that's fine. To be honest, I was just worried about her. She's been acting quite distant lately—"

The door to the kitchen suddenly opened and the person in question walked in, stopped mid-step upon catching sight of her parents and Avanell, then turned slowly on her heel and walked back out, trying to act casual.

"_Rose Weasley-!"_ Ron's voice was drowned out by the thundering sound of Rose running up the stairs. _Knew we should've gone with carpet_, he thought irritably as the distant sound of her door slamming reverberated around the house.

Avanell cleared her throat and stood up. "Well, if you do find out what's going on with her, please let me know."

"Of course," Hermione said, frowning at the creaking ceiling that suggested Rose was now pacing upstairs in her bedroom. "We'll walk you to the door."

After seeing Avanell out, Hermione and Ron turned to march up the stairs, but before they could, the shrill ringing of a bell sounded from the living room.

"Who could that be?" Ron asked, forgetting to be an angry and determined parent as he led Hermione to the fireplace. The ringing stopped and green flames sprang up in the grate. A loud _whoosh!_ later and a young woman with white blonde hair pulled up into a bun spun into view, dainty glasses perched smartly on her petite nose.

"Are you the parents of Rose Weasley?" she asked them, peering over her glasses at their slack-jawed appearance.

"What _now_?" Hermione asked, staring utterly gob-smacked at the woman.

"I take it you are," she smiled politely yet impatiently. She stuck out her hand bluntly. "My name is Leah Shields. I'm Dr. Mortimer Caradoc's personal assistant, and I'm here about Rose's application to join his expedition to Camelot."

Ron and Hermione stared from her hand, to her face, to her professional clipboard, and back again.

"Heh. Wait here just a moment," Ron said, smiling at her in a pained and forced casual way. He seized his wife by the arm and dragged her into the kitchen.

"Rose—what—expedition—Camelot!" he blustered, looking crazed as he paced back and forth across the tile.

Hermione started to pace, too. "I have no idea, I honestly have no idea," she repeated over and over again, wringing her hands. The two of them came face to face in their pacing, stared hard at each other, and then… "ROSE!"

* * *

"Rose Weasley, you open this door!" Ron shouted, pounding on the wood.

"Sweeet, is she in trouble?"

"Not _now_, Hugo!" Hermione snapped, and he ran back down the hallway laughing all Hugo-like.

"Rose—!"

"Uh, I'm not decent, Dad!" she replied from the other side of the door. "Teenage girl stuff—pimples, bushy hair—I'm not presentable!"

"Rose," Hermione said, taking over the pounding on the door. "I will give you the chance to open up, before I blast a hole in the wall, understand?"

"Is Scorpius in there?" Ron demanded. "Because if he is, so help me I will curse his pretty boy arse into next Tuesday—"

"What? No! No, Scorpius is _not_ in here!"

Hermione tapped the doorknob with her wand, but it didn't unlock.

"Try, 'Finite Incantatem'," Ron hissed to his wife.

"I _did_," she hissed back. "Rose, I am going to count to three! One…_two_—"

"Mother, I am not four years old!"

Hermione pushed herself away from the door and began rolling up her sleeves, her wand in hand. "You are _so_ grounded, young lady! _Bombarda!"_

The door exploded in its frame and Rose tripped backwards over her open suitcase in her haste to backup.

Ron and Hermione charged into the room, and a millisecond later Hugo crept in behind them unnoticed to watch the fun.

"Rose Weasley, we demand to know what is going on here!" Ron yelled, his ears a deep, burning red.

"Honey, _honey_, I've got this," Hermione said, placing a steady hand on his arm. She fixed her narrow and angry eyes on Rose, and a second later was screaming louder than Ron and gesturing furiously to the almost fully packed suitcase, _"Rose Weasley, we demand to know what is going on here!"_

"Mum—Dad—" she tried to say.

"There is a woman downstairs," Hermione snarled, even scarier now that she wasn't screaming, "asking for you-saying something about an _expedition_."

"_Shoot_," Rose hissed under her breath, though she didn't exactly use the word 'shoot'.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" Hermione demanded. "What's this about not making Octavius and Avanell's wedding? Where do you plan on going? And where in the name of Merlin's most baggy y fronts are your pants?"

"I _told_ you I wasn't decent," Rose reminded her fuming parents as she pulled on a pair of sweats. "And in answer to your other questions…" she took a deep breath, "I am joining an expedition in search of Camelot, and it might take longer than I would like—I don't want to miss the wedding, but I may not have a choice."

Ron and Hermione gawked at her soundlessly.

"Hey, ready to go?" a cheerful voice that made them all cringe suddenly asked. Rose slapped a hand to her eyes in horror as Ron and Hermione slowly revolved on the spot to glare at Scorpius, who stood in the doorway grinning happily and dressed for travel. When he caught sight of their less than friendly expressions, his grin was quickly slapped off of his face. "Erm…I'll come back later…" he slowly began to back out of the room, watching Ron warily, who was clenching and unclenching his fists and looking as if he'd like nothing else than to throttle the living daylights out of the young Malfoy.

After Scorpius's footsteps reached the stairs, Ron and Hermione looked back at their daughter, who grimaced.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Ron growled, sparks flying out of the wand he held tightly in his clenched fist.

Rose squared her shoulders and stared straight at her parents. "We're going on the expedition. Together."

"Over my dead body!" Ron said hotly. "Tell her she's insane if she thinks she's going anywhere with him, Hermione!"

Hermione folded her arms tightly across her chest. "Rose, why didn't you tell us about any of these plans?"

Rose flushed. "Erm, well, because I figured you'd say 'heck no, you're crazy, go to your room and stay there for the rest of eternity'. Or something."

Hermione sighed and pulled Rose onto the bed. "Rosie, I think it's a brilliant idea."

Ron's mouth fell to the floor. "What?"

"What?" Hugo chorused, looking disappointed in the lack of hexing on his mother's part.

"What?" Rose repeated, quietly disbelieving.

"I do," Hermione told her. "Thought it's bound to be dangerous, and extremely risky, and I'm a bit concerned with the idea of Scorpius going along…" she gave her daughter a pointed look, and then continued with, "but all in all, you'll gain tremendous experience quite beyond your years. My biggest problem is that you chose not to tell me or your father, and by the looks of it, you decided not to tell anybody. Were you planning on just leaving without saying goodbye?"

"I knew Dad wouldn't be okay with it," Rose said, glancing at Ron, who looked like he was about to suffer from a stroke. "But I knew you guys already gave me the green light to go with Albus, and Jess, so I figured I'd just…make you think I went with them…which was a _really_ stupid idea now that I think about it."

"Yeah, it was!" Ron said angrily, butting back into the conversation. "So, you're grounded! You're not going on _any_ sort of trip! _Ever!_"

"I'm an adult!" she objected, standing up and glaring at him. "I can do whatever I want! I'm of age! Tell him, Mum!"

"_Hermione_," Ron warned, glaring at her.

Hermione sighed. "Rose, you're right, you are of age—"

"Ha!" she said, grinning triumphantly at her father, who opened his mouth furiously.

"—_but_," Hermione stressed, causing Rose to do a double take, "_because_ you lied to your father and I, I will not allow you to go."

Rose gawked at her. "I'm of age—"

"But you're still my daughter," Hermione cut in sharply. "And a parent has the right to keep their seventeen year old child _at home_ until they feel their child is mature enough to be out on their own."

"But, _Mum!_ You said it was a brilliant idea!"

"It is, but if I can't trust you to be honest, I can't trust you to go out of the country all by yourself _with_ your boyfriend," Hermione told her coolly.

Rose gaped at her.

"_Ha!"_ Ron said, pointing at his daughter triumphantly, though he was feeling more angry than victorious. "And clean your room!" he added, before marching out into the hallway to chew out Scorpius who waited downstairs, trailed silently by a chuckling Hugo.

"_Mum_, please, _please_, pleeeaseee," Rose said desperately. "I can do this! And besides, you're worried about nothing! Scorpius is old fashioned."

Hermione walked to the open doorway, then paused and looked back at her daughter. She suddenly smiled. "You're a teenager, Rose. Do what teenagers do when their parents aren't being…lenient." She casually looked past Rose's shoulder and at the window.

"What—lenient?" Rose's brow creased, and she followed her mother's gaze. "I don't understand—_ohhh_…" she grinned suddenly. "I love you, Mum."

"Again, it's for your best interest if you _don't _go, Rosie," Hermione said loudly as she walked downstairs.

"If only I had a door to slam!" Rose called to her angrily, but then she found herself smirking as she turned back to finish packing.

Ron, meanwhile, sat in an armchair down in the living room across from Scorpius and Professor Caradoc's refined assistant, who was busy scribbling away on her clipboard with a disgustingly fancy quill, ignoring the fuming Weasley.

"I thought Rose had told you," Scorpius blurted out when the silence became too great. "For what it's worth…" he muttered, averting his eyes from Ron's glaring protective ones.

Ron's eyes narrowed even more as he continued glaring daggers at the young Malfoy in suffocating silence.

"It wasn't even my idea!" Scorpius went on hastily. "She's making me do this! I was just fine with a quick trip around the sights!"

Ron was now visibly grinding his teeth.

Before Scorpius could say anything more, Leah Shields slapped her clipboard down on her knee and fixed Ron with a stare. "Alright, Mr. Weasley, though Rose does _not_ need your consent to go, I have a few papers you might wish to look over—"

"She's not going!" Ron barked.

"Yes, yes, I know your views on all of this," she said impatiently. "I'll be speaking with Rose shortly—"

"You will be doing no such thing! Get out of my house! Both of you!"

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" Hermione had finally arrived in the living room, and now stood with her hands on hips. "I told you I would handle this!" She turned to look coolly at Scorpius. "Rose is upstairs. You might want to help her unpack." As he was walking past her to go into the hallway she discretely winked.

Leah Shields stood up to address Hermione. "You seem to be the woman in charge here," she said coolly, raising an eyebrow at Ron. "Would you please be so kind…?" she held up the clipboard.

"I'll talk to you in the kitchen," said Hermione, leading the way.

* * *

"You can't go then?" Scorpius asked as he walked into Rose's bedroom again.

"Technically, no," Rose said, stuffing more clothes into her bag. "But Mum told me to be a rebelling teenager, so I'm sneaking out tonight. Where should we meet? The Leaky? No, no, bad idea, Neville might see us and tell Dad…"

"You're going against your father's wishes? He hates me enough as it is! I'd get blamed for this!"

"He doesn't hate you," Rose told him firmly. "He'd hate anyone involved with me. Or whatever." She shrugged and stashed her bulging bag underneath her bed in case her parents made another trip to her bedroom. Then she sighed exhaustedly. "So? Somewhere in Diagon Alley?"

"How about Gringotts? I'll need to get some money anyway," Scorpius said.

"Perfect. Around what time?"

"I dunno, how late do teenagers sneak out?"

"I have no idea, I've never done it before."

The two of them thought for a minute.

"You guys are dumb," Hugo said from the open doorway. He was leaning against the frame and grinning evilly. "It's not Ancient Runes—you wait until Mum and Dad _fall asleep_. Uh-derrr."

Rose looked like she'd been slapped in the face. "I'm not thinking straight, shut up."

"We _are_ dumb," Scorpius agreed with a laugh.

* * *

"Alright," Rose whispered to herself in the dark, creeping across the bedroom and towards the window, her bag slung over her shoulder. "Alright, Rose, you can do this." She inched it open and looked down at the ground—the ground that now seemed to be very far away. "Crap. How do I get down?"

"Honestly, Rose, you're an idiot!"

Rose jumped and smacked her head against the half-open window as she hurried to see who had spoken.

"_Hugo!"_ she hissed, rubbing the back of her head tenderly. "What are you doing up? Go to bed!"

"And miss watching you fail? Not likely."

"I'm Rose Weasley—I don't fail!"

"Bit conceited, aren't you?" he said annoyingly, twiddling his thumbs pleasantly. She rolled her eyes and looked back out the window, opening it a bit wider to avoid the risk of obtaining a concussion. "I can't risk getting down by magic," she said half to herself, "Dad's charms would pick it up…"

Hugo coughed something that sounded suspiciously like, "rookie".

Rose turned to glare at him again. "Oh, I suppose you're just a master of sneaking out at night?"

"As a matter of fact I am," he told her. "Watch and learn, my young and pathetically naïve Padawan," he crossed the room and began to tear the curtains off of her window. She gawked at him as he began braiding it into a rope.

"How—?"

"I sneak out every now and again," Hugo shrugged. "To get away from the house, mostly, just to think." He shrugged again like it was no big deal, and then turned his back on her and secured one end of the curtain rope to the bed post and threw the rest out. It left about a foot drop to the ground. "Well, don't die," he told his sister.

"Gee, thanks," she said, taking hold of the rope. She gave him a quick one-arm hug. "See you…whenever."

"Yeah, whenever," he said awkwardly. Then he shook himself and added, "I'll wait for you to get on the ground, then I'll pull it back up."

"Thanks, Hugo," she said, grinning as she tightened her grip on the rope and began to climb down it and out of the window. Once her feet were on the ground, she tugged once and he began to pull it back up.

Readjusting her rucksack on her shoulder and slipping her wand up her sleeve and out of sight, Rose silently crept up the front walk of the house, her heart pounding in anticipation.

Once she had reached the gate, she looked back to see Hugo still standing at the window. She raised her hand to her forehead in mock salute, and grinned as he returned the gesture.

"Sorry, Dad," Rose muttered with a guilty grin, and with that said and done, she disapparated.


	4. Have Your Cake

**Disclaimer: -.-**

**A/N: ;D**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

**Have Your Cake…**

* * *

'Be patient' is very good advice. Advice, in fact, that Rose really should consider following.

"How long are they going to keep us waiting?" she hissed to Scorpius, pacing back and forth along the long, elaborately decorated, pristine corridor they had been brought to. "And have you figured out what this place is yet?"

"It's a Muggle museum, Rosie," he told her dutifully, suppressing the urge to snap at her. It was late, he was hungry, and she was annoying the crap out of him with her incessant pacing. "Why don't you sit down?"

"Why _don't_ I?" she agreed, looking frazzled as she joined him on the floor, their backs pressed rigid against the cold stone wall. Rose tipped her head back and checked out one of the art pieces hanging just above their heads. "Why a museum?" she then asked.

"Dr. Caradoc's a historian, isn't he?"

"Yeah, but isn't he a _wizardry_ historian?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Maybe he's both."

"Maybe," Rose shrugged, too.

The two fell silent, listening to the whir of a vacuum cleaner being used by a custodian in the far distant depths of the museum.

Then a door creaked open to their right, and a young man poked his head out. "They said to let you two stragglers in," he told Rose and Scorpius, looking down at them sitting on the floor with a grin.

"It's about time," Rose huffed, standing up at once.

"It's not our fault we're late," Scorpius told the grinning young man.

He shook his head, still smiling. "Hey, who am I to assume, right?" he smirked at Rose, who was trying to see over his shoulder and into the room. "I'm Nick, by the way. Nick Flamel."

Rose jerked to look at him. "Flamel?"

He looked sheepish as he said, "Yeah, the Nick you're thinking of is my great-something grandfather."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows and Rose was beside herself with excitement.

"That's amazing! I mean, it's totally cool how you're related to him! I'm Rose Weasley, nice to meet you!" she shook his hand vigorously, and Nick matched Scorpius's raised eyebrows.

"Weasley, did you say?"

"Yeah, Ron Weasley's daughter, old news for me," she smiled.

He smiled back. "Right, okay, well let's not keeping them waiting any longer. The Professor isn't a very patient man—learned that the hard way," he shrugged and smiled again at Rose.

Scorpius scowled at the pair of them smiling (he was still very hungry and tired, and he didn't particularly like the way this Flamel kid was looking at Rose), then followed Nick through the door and into a musty looking room that appeared to never have been opened to the public. All of the museum displays were covered in protective plastics, and everything was dimly lit in dying light. A small group of people were gathered together in a cluster of mismatched and rickety chairs, all surrounding a tall and slender man with graying hair that stood to welcome the latecomers.

"You must be Scorpius," he said, seizing the young Malfoy's hand in a firm grip. "Welcome, Draco's told me many extraordinary things about you."

"Has he now?" Scorpius tried to smile, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it.

"He has," Caradoc said, nodding. He caught sight of Rose lurking behind him, trying to look casual. "And you must be Rose!"

"I am," she said, grinning brightly. Scorpius suddenly had the impression that she could probably light up the whole room just by flashing all of her pearly whites at everyone.

"It's wonderful to have you on board," he assured her with a kind smile. "Please, sit," he then added to the three of them, gesturing to the remaining chairs. Scorpius recognized Leah Shields scribbling away on her clipboard in the chair closest to Caradoc's, but she was the only familiar face in the group. Caradoc promptly introduced Rose and Scorpius to the other expedition team members. "This is Milo Faraday," the professor said, gesturing to a tanned man who smiled and nodded at them. "He will be assisting me in navigating our way across Europe, and all sites related to Arthurian Legend. Over here is Gwendolyn Pennington, she's our cook—every good team has one, and she's the best cook I know," Gwen waved from her position perched on top of a crate. "And you know Nick Flamel—he's just along for the ride, though he does have excellent tracking skills."

Caradoc directed their attention to the last person in the small group. "This is Lance Norman, our tactical specialist."

Lance didn't smile in greeting, which caused Scorpius to raise his eyebrows. Rose's brow furrowed as she looked at Dr. Caradoc. "Tactical specialist?"

"Just in case," he simply supplied, before clapping his hands together to gain the attention of the rest of the group. "Alright, we have much to discuss before we head out."

"Yes, and I still need to get my supplies," Gwen pointed out.

"All of that's already been taken care of," Caradoc assured her.

As the group fell into the conversation about supplies, Scorpius tuned them out, feeling a bit bored. Rose noticed his expression and squeezed his hand, offering a small smile that he didn't quite return.

Was he really going to do this? He didn't know any of these people—and Caradoc had a history of his own that Scorpius really wanted no part of. This was dangerous, and probably stupid, and he was following Rose right into it.

"Do you disagree, Mr. Malfoy?" Caradoc was suddenly asking him.

Scorpius blinked and looked up at the professor. "Pardon?"

"I was just asking you if you disagreed with Mr. Norman."

Scorpius looked around at the faces of the expedition team. Lance Norman was scowling at him, as if daring _anybody_ to disagree with him.

"No…?"

"So you think we should just apparate, or take a portkey, to our desired destination?"

"Yeah, why not? That'd be faster, wouldn't it?"

"It would be," Caradoc agreed airily.

"But you don't agree?" Scorpius asked.

"No, I don't."

Lance scowled even more. "We've wasted enough time as it is, Caradoc. Now you want us to _walk_ all the way to Wiltshire?"

"Walk?" Nick echoed, raising his eyebrows. He looked from Lance to Caradoc and back again. "Walk? It'd take us forever to get there! Can't we fly at least?"

"No, no, we wouldn't walk the whole way," Caradoc assured him. He appraised the peculiarly small group seriously. "You all may be under the impression that our mission is simple, or easy, but I assure you that it won't be."

Scorpius sat up a bit straighter in his chair.

"Camelot is a universal idea, as you all know," Caradoc continued. "We are not the first, nor shall we be the last if we don't succeed, to try to find the lost kingdom."

"So are you saying we may encounter other wizards?" Nick asked, looking surprised.

"We _will_ encounter other wizards, with goals much like our own, Mr. Flamel," Caradoc confirmed with a nod. Scorpius raised his eyebrows.

"And they won't be friendly, will they?"

"Seekers, such as us, have a…knack, if you will, for being greedy and jealous, and selfish. We want to get there first, do we not?" he looked around at them all, and the group nodded slightly, muttering that no der they wanted to get there first. "I'm not saying we're all crazed treasure hunters willing to do whatever it may take to assure our success, but as I said before, we must be prepared for the inevitable competition that awaits us."

Suddenly, the expedition was much more exciting than Scorpius had previously thought.

"So, back to our dilemma," Lance prompted irritably. "We can't travel by magic because…?"

"Magic leaves traces, Mr. Norman," Caradoc told him. "Our expedition is well known throughout the magical community, and no doubt we will be watched closely until we manage to drop off the grid, to put it simply."

"You mean our competition will be watching closely?" Rose clarified with a rather mischievous smile. Caradoc smiled back at her.

"Yes, Ms. Weasley, they'll be watching us _very_ closely."

"That makes sense," Scorpius spoke up. "To not travel by magic, I mean. Now that we've cleared all that mess up about competition and whatnot, I take it we start out inconspicuously?"

Caradoc nodded at him. "Well put, Mr. Malfoy."

Lance scowled. "We're doing it the old fashioned way, I take it."

"Sweeet," Nick suddenly said. "Does this mean we get to drive a card?"

"You mean a car?" Rose automatically corrected.

"Yeah, that thing, with the rubber wheels!" he looked at Caradoc hopefully.

The professor raised his eyebrows. "Yes…"

"Can I drive?"

"Absolutely not," Caradoc told him hastily, and before Nick had time to look crestfallen, Caradoc turned to the group at large. "We'll leave first thing in the morning, which isn't too long away now. Get some rest, all of you, you'll need it."

Rose and Scorpius set up their sleeping bags and little ways away from the rest of the group, to talk things over.

"Sooo…?" Rose pressed, zipping her bag closed up to her chin and blinking up at him expectantly.

Scorpius punched his pathetically small pillow into a more comfortable shape before answering. "There better be an exciting car chase to look forward to tomorrow."

Rose smiled and closed her eyes, feeling reassured that he didn't think the whole thing a waste of time.

* * *

**E/N: Short chapter and kind of iffy ending xD … but look forward to a potential car chase! ;P It's about time we saw some action anyway -.-**


	5. and Eat it too

**Disclaimer: Yeeeahhh—no.**

**A/N: CAR CHASE! WOO!**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

…**and Eat it too**

* * *

"You're joking right? Dr. Caradoc? He's joking, isn't he, Rose? This is a joke, I know it is!"

Caradoc clapped Nick bracingly on the shoulder. "Look sharp, Mr. Flamel! We'll be riding in style!"

"Style?" the young Flamel repeated in a tight voice. "_Style?_ You call that…vintage rusty bucket of bolts _style_?"

"Says the boy who thought we'd be riding in _cards_," Lance said with a roll of his eyes. Nick shot him a nasty glare.

"I'm just saying it looks nothing like those cars you see on Muggle television…or in the magazines…or anywhere, now that I think about it. It belongs in one of those scrapyards, or something!"

"I think it's kinda cool," Rose said, cocking her head slightly to the side as she looked at the vintage jeep with the wide back. "Looks kind of like those trucks the military uses, you know? Plenty of room, at least we won't be crammed together."

"I wouldn't have minded that," Nick told her slyly. Scorpius, who had just walked down the steps behind them, thwopped him on the back of the head as he passed them to take his spot next to Caradoc.

"You look nice," he told the professor, eyeing his tweed jacket and professional looking bowtie and cane.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy," Caradoc said, and if he realized Scorpius was being a bit sarcastic, he didn't let on. "One must look the part, no?"

Scorpius shrugged. "I suppose so, sir."

"Besides, the press will be here any—ah, here they are now."

"The press?" Rose repeated in sudden alarm, wheeling around to stare at him, just as loud cracks and pops filled the back lot of the museum. _Daily Prophet_ reporters were apparating all over the place, and with a squeak Rose ducked behind Scorpius, who looked over his shoulder at her.

"What are you doing?"

"Mum and Dad can't see me in the papers—they'll have a stroke!"

"Your mum _knows_ you're here, Rosie—and your dad's probably figured it out by now, remember?"

"But he'll know where I am!"

"Ron Weasley never struck me as the museum touring type, to be honest."

Rose took a deep breath, "You're right, it's too late to worry about it now…" and she straightened up and took her place beside him, just as Caradoc addressed the reporters, who were busy snapping blinding pictures of them all, vivid purple smoke billowing out of their cameras as they danced around the reporters who were firing questions at the Professor, who answered them calmly and with a professional smile.

"Caradoc's an idiot for going so public with this," Rose heard Lance muttering to Gwen behind them. "What happened to being 'inconspicuous' about everything?" he spat bitterly on the ground, causing the cook to wrinkle her nose at him.

"Was that necessary, Lance?"

He merely grunted and occupied himself with rechecking the supplies he had in his bag, promptly ignoring the camera flashes going off in his direction, and the eager reporters that constantly badgered him with questions on his part in the expedition.

"What exactly is the point of talking to the press?" Rose whispered to Caradoc, who smiled and waved at the cameras.

"Publicity and funding, Ms. Weasley," he told her out of the corner of his mouth. "Our funders receive good publicity from all of this."

"And if we fail terribly?" Scorpius asked, thinking about Caradoc's infamous first expedition.

"Let's hope we don't," the professor replied coolly.

* * *

After shaking off the reporters, the team began to load all of their supplies into the back of the vintage jeep under their watchful and excited eyes.

"Look at 'em!" Lance said bitterly, glaring over his shoulder at the cameras. "Don't they have anything better to do than sit around and watch us?"

"I heard there was a nasty incident involving kitten sized manticores," Nick piped up. "You'd think reporters would be all over that!"

Lance cuffed him on the shoulder irritably. "Do us a favor," Nick blinked up at him, "and shut up, Flamel."

While the two of them bickered, Milo Faraday and Scorpius stood outside the driver's door of the automobile.

"Do you know how to drive?" Milo asked Scorpius, his brow creased as he looked through the open window at the steering wheel and its various levers.

"Nope," Scorpius said, shrugging his shoulders. "Rose does, though! Rose, come here!"

She bounced over, looking excited. "Yeah, whatcha need?"

"You know how to drive, right?"

"Yeah, Mum taught me," she said. "Why? Isn't Professor Caradoc going to be driving?"

"I'll be handling the navigation," Caradoc said, walking over to them. He leaned on his cane as he watched them. "You can drive, Ms. Weasley, as it would appear you're the only one who can."

"I can drive!" Nick shouted over to them, but everyone wisely ignored the young Flamel.

"Alright, but I must warn you, I'm not the best driver," Rose said, but Caradoc merely patted her on the shoulder and assured her in a wistful voice that she'd do just fine.

Once it was time for them to leave, Rose plopped down behind the wheel. "Alright, Weasley, you can do this," she chanted under her breath as she started the ignition. "You can do this, piece of cake…"

She glanced to her right and saw that Milo was staring at her.

"Pfff, I can do this, don't look so worried!" she said with a nervous grin.

Scorpius piled into the backseat. "You can do this," he confirmed with a nod.

Lifted slightly by his words, Rose waited for everyone else to get in the jeep before she put it in drive.

"You look worried, Professor," Rose remarked as they pulled out of the museum lot. Nick, who was sitting in the very back of the vehicle, waved excitedly at the reports as they disapparated with a series of cracks.

"You're doing a fine job of driving, Ms. Weasley," he told her sincerely, letting her know that her driving wasn't what had him so tense. But after half an hour of driving without anything happening out of the ordinary, he started to relax.

"This isn't as fun as I thought it would be," Nick said loudly from the back as silence settled over the passengers of the car.

Rose, who was quietly panicking as they hit heavier traffic, shot him a glare in the rear-view mirror, but he didn't see it.

"Can't we go faster?"

"Nick, shut up," said Lance in a bored voice, where he sat staring out the window uninterestedly.

Rose gripped the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned starch-white.

"Turn here," Caradoc told her from the passenger seat, and she turned left on command.

"You _could_ drive a little faster," Scorpius spoke up from behind her. "That little old lady with her walker just passed us."

"Shut _up_," Rose hissed at him as they pulled up to a red light. "I've never driven in the heart of London before!"

"I was just sayin'," he said annoyingly.

Before Rose could turn around in her seat and strangle the living daylights out of him, a car horn started to blare furiously, the light turned green, and just as she was taking off, a sleek black SUV came crashing out of the alley to their right.

Caradoc reacted at once. "DRIVE, ROSE!"

With a loud squeak she slammed her foot on the pedal and they blasted forward. Rose spun the steering wheel sickeningly fast as they weaved in and out of traffic, car horns going off at them from all directions. Nick and Milo tumbled around in the back of the jeep as Rose jerked the car around to avoid a nasty collision with a minivan.

"NOW—THIS—IS—MORE—_LIKE IT!" _Nick crowed as he was tossed back and forth. He was quickly silenced when one of Lance's supply crates smacked into him and pinned him against the window.

"Scorpius!" Caradoc shouted, clutching the dashboard as Rose spun the wheel to the left and they tore down a side street. "I need a visual!"

"For _what?" _Scorpius wanted to know as he bonked the side of his head on the window due to Rose's frenzied driving.

"For this!" and Caradoc drew his wand. "Rose, roll down the window!"

"YOU'RE GOING TO _SHOOT AT THEM_?" she screamed shrilly.

"Where _are_ they, Mr. Malfoy?"

Scorpius cranked down his window feverishly and poked his head out, but immediately drew it back in as a jet of green light streaked past his window. The curse hit the right side-view mirror and blasted it clean off.

"They're right behind us," Scorpius informed Caradoc, oddly calm for a guy who nearly got his face blasted off.

With an explosive sigh, Caradoc fought his own window down, while Rose continued rocking the jeep back and forth, narrowly missing other cars.

"Professor, I don't think that's a good idea!" Gwen cried as he began to pull himself out. Rose suddenly jerked the car and she toppled sideways into Lance's lap, while Caradoc nearly fell over the side of the door.

"Sorry!" Rose groaned, turning an unpleasant shade of green as the professor yanked himself back up, clutching the roof of the jeep with one hand.

"No worries, Ms. Weasley! This is the most fun I've had in months!" he said with a merciless laugh as he started firing a rapid succession of spells at their pursuers.

"He's mad!" Scorpius roared, latching himself onto the back of Rose's seat in fright as they barreled down the street. The back windshield shattered as an enemy spell collided with it, and Milo and Nick hit the floor with two loud _thuds_ that made the vehicle bounce, jarring everyone senseless.

The loud wail of sirens announced the arrival of the Muggle police, as they joined the chase.

"Muggles!" Nick cried from where he was huddled on the glass covered back floor of the jeep. "They'll see—we'll be breaking Wizarding Law!"

"Screw Wizarding Law, Mr. Flamel! We're under attack!" Caradoc shouted, his wand a mere blur as he dueled with their nameless pursuers. _"BOMBARDA MAXIMA!"_

The black SUV swerved the spell, which then collided with a parked Cadillac instead of its original target.

"Damn, I almost had them," Caradoc hissed, projecting a powerful shield to protect them from a fresh new onslaught of curses.

"I don't know where to go!" Rose was screaming shrilly, skidding around random corners and flying down crowded streets. "I don't know what to do—I'm freaking out! I'M FREAKING OUT!"

"We need to shake them!" Scorpius told her hastily.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M TRYING TO DO?"

Before he could give her a piece of his effin mind, they hit a huge bump in the road, and Scorpius, Lance, and Gwen flew up out of their seats and conked their heads on the ceiling of the jeep.

"Sorrrrrry!" Rose called back to them, not taking her eyes off the bridge ahead.

"Double decker bus, twelve o'clock!" Caradoc yelled to her, and then, "_CONFRINGO!" _to the other guys.

Something else exploded behind them, but Rose didn't even want to know what it was as she hurried to swerve the oncoming bus.

"Merlin's pants!" Nick yelped in pain from the back.

"Merlin's sore arse is more like it," Milo moaned.

"Hold on, boys—we'll help you as soon as we can!" Gwen called back to them, rubbing her throbbing head as they continued to bounce around violently.

"Any idea who the heck those goons are?" Scorpius shouted to Caradoc, who seemed to be having the time of his life hanging half out of the window.

"I have a few ideas, Mr. Malfoy!" he called back to him cheerfully, coming dangerously close to toppling out of the jeep altogether and becoming a nasty splat on the road. _"Deprimo!"_

Lance lunged into the front seat and grabbed hold of Caradoc's furiously kicking legs as the professor began to fall backwards out of the window.

"Thank you, Mr. Norman!"

"Do they look as bad as us?"

"From my upside-down position? Yes!"

Lance yanked the professor back into the jeep, just as the only remaining side-view mirror was blasted off by an offending curse.

With a scream, Gwen covered her head with her hands as carefully aimed spells rocketed into the vehicle through the broken back window. A jet of red light rebounded off of the rear-view mirror and Rose ducked over the steering wheel as it flew towards her. It ripped clean through her seat and burned the side of Scorpius's cheek as it passed on its way back through the car.

"We've got to lose them _now_!" Lance roared over the deafening sounds of the fight.

"We had to lose them _fifteen minutes ago!" _Rose screeched, close to tears by now.

By this time, they were halfway across the bridge and Caradoc, thinking quickly, narrowed his eyes at the water.

"Everyone, wands out!" he ordered.

"Which one?" Nick asked faintly from where he still had his face pressed against the floor of the car.

"If we didn't have a good chance of dying right now, I'd kill you!" Lance threatened, raising a fist.

"Listen to me!" Caradoc said urgently, "And roll down your windows!"

"What are you planning?" Scorpius asked him suspiciously.

"Just get your wands out, and prepare to perform the Bubble-head charm!"

Rose jerked her head to look at him in horror, but the loud screech of a horn had her jerking her head back in time to swerve the oncoming car.

"Wait—what's the plan?" Nick shouted frantically.

"Now, Weasley!" Caradoc screamed, just as another spell hit the bumper of their car and blasted it up onto its front two wheels. With a scream of her own, Rose jerked the steering wheel to the right, and the jeep crashed through the bridge's barrier.

They were now in free fall.

* * *

**E/N: **REVIEW! :O :O :O


	6. Depth

**Disclaimer: I don't own Inception either ;)**

**A/N: If you've made it to the fun stuff, KUDOS TO YOU! :D I know the first few chapters were insanely lame, but it's worth it, I promise :) :) :)**

* * *

**Chapter Six  
Depth**

* * *

The black SUV pulled over off the road and the two passengers climbed out and made their way over to the broken railings. By this time the jeep was slowly submerging under the river's black waters.

"Great, think they survived?" one man asked the other.

"Of course they survived, you idiot," his partner snapped, crouching down to get a closer look. The distant sound of sirens could be heard coming towards the bridge, and the Muggles who had been on the bridge at the time were climbing out of their cars to get a better glimpse at what was happening. "We need to get out of here before the cops arrive."

"What are we gonna tell Ga—"

"Not here, Cage!"

Cage fell silent, glancing up briefly at the Muggles who were gasping and staring down in horror at the sinking jeep.

"It was them! They were chasing them!" a shrill voice called out, and the two straightened up as the whir of helicopter blades cut through the air.

"We'll be all over the news," Cage muttered to his partner warningly. "Roark, how are we getting out of here?"

"Get back to the car," Roark growled, shoving him in that direction. Glancing once more back at the water, Roark quickly followed, while some of the braver Muggles converged upon the spot where the jeep had gone over.

"Now what?" Cage demanded once they had slammed the doors shut. "Do you think we'll get anywhere by car? The bridge is backed up because of that little stunt of Caradoc's!"

"Are you a wizard or not?" Roark demanded, reaching over and grasping Cage by the shoulder. With a violent jerk, the two disapparated, the muffled crack unheard by the frenzied Muggle police outside.

* * *

Scorpius kicked out the window of his car door and pulled himself out of the slowly sinking van, kicking his legs laboriously as the water clawed at them from all sides. Nick and Milo, who had escaped from the shattered back window, swam by with their lighted wands, looking frantic as they struggled to help the others out of the jeep.

His heart pounding furiously, Scorpius pushed himself back down towards the car in search of Rose. She was struggling with her seat belt, still stuck behind the wheel, her features distorted by the hastily cast bubblehead charm.

He gestured for her to stop yanking on the belt as he jabbed his wand at it. A jet of red light streaked through the water and sliced through it. Rose then started to push furiously on the large steering wheel.

"Take out the front window!" he yelled to her, his voice sounding garbled through his own bubble. She pointed her wand at the front windshield and it blasted apart. Scorpius swam around and crouched down onto the hood of the jeep, then reached in and grasped the steering wheel. Tugging as hard as he could on it, he tried to rip it clean off the dashboard, but only managed to hit the horn, which disturbed a school of fish with its warped blast.

The car horn attracted Lance's attention, and he swam over to help Scorpius. With their bulky strength combined, they managed to tear away the wheel. Rose pushed herself out and clutched Scorpius around the neck, watching wide-eyed as the jeep continued to sink.

Lance jerked his head, signaling them to follow him, and together the three of them pushed themselves through the water and towards the rest of the team. Milo pointed up at the surface questioningly but Caradoc shook his head, causing them all to stare in disbelief.

He held up a hand, silently bidding them to wait.

Scorpius watched as various fish of all shapes and sizes swam idly by for a closer look, and then darted away with excitement and fear. Sunlight from above crisscrossed through the water around them, and when he glanced at Rose, he couldn't help but stare as her red hair billowed out around her angelically. Maybe he _had_ drowned... but then he caught sight of Nick scratching his left pit, and he knew he was definitely alive and stuck at the bottom of the River Thames. He looked glumly once more at Caradoc, who was directing his wand at the surface of the river. A silver shape shot out of the end and darted through the water quickly and disappeared.

Apparently satisfied, Caradoc nodded at them, and they ascended to the surface of the river.

The current had apparently carried them further than Scorpius had realized, for when his head finally broke the surface, the bridge was no longer in sight and they were on the very outskirts of London.

"What now?" Lance demanded angrily, glaring at Caradoc as they drifted along. "We have no supplies, no transportation…we're screwed, Caradoc!"

"No, no this is good," Caradoc said happily, shaking the water from his head. "At this rate, we'll be far enough out of the city to apparate to our next location."

"What happened to going old school?" Nick asked.

"Obviously, being incognito didn't work," Rose pointed out, looking paler than usual against the dark water.

Caradoc nodded. "That's why we'll travel in incriminates. It may take us longer than a straight journey, but it will be safer."

"Define safe, Caradoc," Lance growled, narrowing his eyes. "Because _that_—that wasn't safe! They ambushed us!"

"A small setback, Mr. Norman," Caradoc said airily. "I told you we could expect something like this. It's only natural to face numerous obstacles on the road to discovery—"

Lance opened his mouth furiously, but Gwen placed a steadying hand on his shoulder. He quieted down, though continued glaring at the professor. Rose and Nick watched the whole thing with wide eyes, bobbing slightly in the water as they floated along with the current.

"So…what now?" Scorpius asked, breaking the tense silence that Caradoc seemed completely unconcerned about.

"Mr. Faraday?"

"Once we reach the country, we should be clear to disapparate to one our previously designated spots, Professor," Milo informed him.

"You had a backup plan," Rose realized, looking at Caradoc.

He smiled tightly. "Just in case."

* * *

Stony faced, Ron slowly laid his copy of the _Daily Prophet _flat on the table, his lips pursed tightly.

"Hermione, dear," he snipped.

She didn't answer. Her eyes were transfixed on the television screen in the adjoining room.

"Hermione," he repeated dangerously.

"Mum?" Hugo, who was sitting next to her on the sofa, slowly turned his head to stare at her in horror.

His paper forgotten, Ron stood up from the table to go and investigate what had his wife so unresponsive.

"My God…" his jaw slackened as he watched the footage being shown on the news.

"…early this morning a vehicle was driven off of the London Bridge," the young reporter was saying on the television. "Eye witnesses report that the car was being pursued by this SUV, which was found abandoned after the incident."

As the cameras rolled over the abandoned SUV, Ron fixed Hermione with a horrified stare.

She swallowed hard. "I'm sure it's not…" but the words died on her lips.

"As we speak," the reporter continued, "divers are entering the River Thames to assess the full extent of this truly horrific event. It is still unclear of who was in the vehicle at the time, but we'll hopefully have more information when the vehicle is recovered from the bottom of the river. The drivers of the abandoned SUV are still being speculated, though witnesses have testified of two men present at the scene. There is no sign of them now."

Ron walked away from the sofa, his hands over his face, as Hermione turned the T.V. off, looking ashy.

"There wouldn't have been any sign of them…" she began hesitantly, glancing at her husband, "if they disapparated…"

"I told her she couldn't go!" he cut across her harshly, his terror quickly turning into anger. "I told her it was _too_ dangerous—that it was stupid, and foolish, and—"

"I told her to go," Hermione said quietly.

Ron stopped dead in his tracks, his back turned rigidly to her. "What?"

Hermione closed her eyes, breathing deeply. "I told her to go."

Before Ron could tear into her, Hugo spoke up softly, "And I helped her out of the house."

Ron rounded on him, too. "Both of you—" he blustered, "even when I made it _absolutely clear—"_

"Ronald, we had no way of knowing _this_ would happen!" Hermione gasped, looking close to tears. "And we don't even know for _sure—"_

Ron stomped off to the kitchen and returned seconds later with the _Daily Prophet_. He shoved it in front of her face, jabbing a finger at the cover picture of Caradoc and his team.

"Look behind them, Hermione," he hissed. "That jeep matches the exact description of the one that was driven off that bridge!"

Hermione pushed the paper away. "It's highly unlikely they died, Ron," she said firmly, pushing aside her previous fears as her logical mind began to function correctly again. "They would have had plenty of time to perform numerous spells that would protect them once they hit the water."

"But finding out if Rose is okay is simple!" Hugo suddenly said, causing his parents to look at him. "Well, it is! Just shoot her a patronus or something. That would work wouldn't it?"

Hermione and Ron looked at each other again. "Well?" Ron demanded.

"Yes, yes it should work," Hermione relented, glancing at Hugo who looked smug with pride at his brilliance. When she made no move to cast the charm, Ron groaned loudly.

"_Hermione!"_

She jumped, still looking shaken. "I'm sorry, I've never been good with this spell; you know that!"

"I'll do it, then!" Hugo announced, drowning out his parents' bickering.

"No, Hugo, you're under age—!"

But he didn't listen as he snatched his wand out of his pocket and flicked it.

A giant semi-transparent mistily silver gorilla burst forth out of his wand and, latching itself onto the ceiling fan, propelled itself across the room and swung silently through the window.

Ron and Hermione looked at their son again.

"Why a gorilla?" Ron asked, curiously caught off guard.

Hugo shrugged.

* * *

Hugo's patronus reached the water trodden expedition team as they dragged themselves out of the river and collapsed exhausted onto its muddy banks.

"AHHH!" Nick shrieked as the gorilla flew straight through him on its way to Rose. Everyone stared as it lumbered lazily across the bank and then rested before her.

"We saw the van go over—are you alright?" Hugo's distinctly deep voice sounded from the gorilla.

Rose merely gaped at it soundlessly. _Since when could Hugo cast a patronus? And why on Earth was it an overly large monkey?_

Scorpius drew his own wand. "We're fine," he replied in an assuring voice when Rose failed to supply any sort of coherent answer. They all watched in silence as his patronus took to the sky to relay his message.

"What was that?" Lance asked him, his eyes still trained on the spot where Scorpius's patronus had disappeared. "It looked like some kind of bird."

Hugo replied instantly, cutting across Scorpius's answer. "Dad says Rose is to come home this very instance or else."

"She says not a chance," Scorpius intoned, holding his wand steady.

Rose continued staring at the patronus in awe.

"I thought she would," Hugo's voice said. "Mum says hi, and to try not to drive off anymore bridges."

"We'll do our best."

The gorilla faded away in acknowledgement, and Scorpius lowered his wand.

"Now that that's taken care of," Caradoc said briskly, taking control of the situation, "shall we get going?"

"We have no supplies," Gwen reminded him. "No food or fresh water—"

"—and I lost all of my… useful cargo," Lance supplied bitterly, fixing Caradoc with another one of his routine glares.

"We'll get more supplies once we're safely out of London," Caradoc told them, brushing it off. "Mr. Faraday, if you please."

Milo nodded. "Everyone join hands."

"I'm not holding his hand!" Nick said, sidling away from Lance. "But I'll hold your hand," he told Rose cheekily. Scorpius smacked him on the back of the head, then shouldered his way between Nick and Rose.

"You can hold Scorpius's hand," Rose told Nick sweetly as she laced her fingers through the seething Malfoy's.

Grumbling, Nick took his place between Gwen and Milo instead.

"Um, I have a quick question before we leave…" Rose voiced uncertainly. "Can we do side-along apparition with—" she did a quick head count, "—seven people?"

Milo shrugged. "Dunno, guess we'll find out."

Her mouth dropped open in alarm, but before she could say anything else, Milo turned on the spot at the beginning of the formed queue, and everyone was yanked after him through the suffocating darkness of apparition.

* * *

**E/N: I really must stop ending my chapters like this. REVIEW! :3**


	7. Splinched

**Disclaimer: **Eh.

**A/N: **…eh.

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

**Splinched**

* * *

"This was a bad idea," Nick groaned, his face stark white as he writhed underneath Lance's tight grip. "A really, awful, terrible, horrendous idea! I blame the government!"

"Oh, get a grip, would you?" Lance snarled, shoving Nick hard on the shoulder and causing the young man to stumble and nearly lose his footing on the grassy slope.

Nick doubled over laughing. "You should've seen the look on your faces!" he crowed, slapping his knee uproariously.

Lance reached over and whacked him on the back of the head. "Think you're funny, Flamel? You're not."

Caradoc pursed his lips as he surveyed the surrounding countryside they were in, oblivious to Nick's theatrics. "Mr. Faraday?" he said, looking at Milo, who held some sort of odd compass-like contraption in his hands.

"This way, sir," he said promptly, sliding down the slightly steep slope and entering a brisk walk across the valley. Ahead of them, in the distance, Scorpius could make out an outcrop of jagged looking rocks that didn't look very friendly for climbers.

Rose, he was happy to note, wasn't impressed with Nick's actions either.

"Someone could have seriously been hurt!" she snapped angrily, stalking away from him to stand between Gwen and Lance.

Nick immediately smartened up at that, something Scorpius _wasn't_ happy to note.

"Get your own fiery redhead," he snarled, punching Nick on the shoulder not at all lightly before he, too, marched forward, leaving the young Flamel rubbing his throbbing shoulder alone at the back of the line.

"…there should be some kind of cave there, sir," Milo was telling Caradoc as they walked across the seemingly endless valley, the sun beating relentlessly down on their backs.

Caradoc nodded, looking quite content with their situation as he lead the six of them towards the towering wall of rock.

"Where are we going?" Rose asked Scorpius as he came up beside her.

"No idea. Hey, Caradoc, where are we going?"

"You'll see," he said irritatingly cheerful.

Lance bitterly slapped the waist length prairie grass away as it snagged on his cargo pants. "Not worth the paycheck," he muttered angrily.

Gwen had other worries. "Professor, we still don't have any supplies."

"All will be taken care of," he said airily, waving his hand at them without looking back. He was looking down at the contraption Milo still had in his hands.

"This look safe to you?" Milo asked, his eyebrows pulling together. "Should we find another way in?"

"There is no other way in," Caradoc told him. "Wands out everyone," he called to the others as they reached the rock outcrop.

"Why?" Nick called from behind them. His voice echoed back loudly around the rocks, and Lance shot him an angry glare as a few near the top of the small canyon trembled and dust began to rain down on them.

"Safety precaution, Mr. Flamel," Caradoc said patiently, both hands holding his cane as he leaned forward on it to peer up at the trembling rocks.

Rose and Scorpius drew their own wands, now on full alert as they carefully proceeded through the canyons, the only sound the crunching of their footsteps on the gravelly terrain.

"Is this…uh…supposed to lead to…wherever?" Rose spoke up tentatively.

"Camelot, you mean?" Caradoc asked, shooting her a slight smile. "Not directly, no. We're taking a short cut."

"Through a _canyon_?" Lance asked dubiously.

"It's probably magical," Nick said, keen to be back in the group as he scrambled after them. "You know, maybe it'll teleport us there."

Lance ignored him as he fixed Caradoc with another glare, but the latter ignored him as he and Milo brought them all to a stop at a dead end. As the two of them looked around, Lance shot Gwen an accusing stare, as if he blamed her for their situation.

"Don't look at me like that," she hissed, glancing at Rose, Scorpius, and Nick.

"I'll look at you however I want," he snarled, narrowing his eyes.

"I feel like I've missed something," Nick spoke up. "Are you guys—_whoa!_" he tripped and landed face down at Lance's feet. Milo and Caradoc hastily turned to them at the loud shout of surprise.

"Move!" Milo said urgently, pulling Rose and Gwen out of the way.

But the damage was done. Nick's unfortunately destructive act of clumsiness sent tremors racing up and down the canyon, and the rocks above them began to shake as they threatened to fall from their perches.

Scorpius dove out of the way as the first onslaught of boulders thundered down to the ground, and Lance just barely had time to drag Nick out of the way.

"Hit the deck!" Scorpius cried, dropping to the ground and wrapping his arm around Rose's shoulders to help cover her head as the dislodged rocks crashed into the ground behind them.

After the ground stopped shaking and the dust cleared, Nick lifted his head up. "Sorry," he said in a quiet voice, looking as if he'd like to do nothing more than sink into the depths of the Earth and die.

And for good reason, it would seem, as Lance yanked him up out of the rubble by his shirt collar. "You could have gotten us all killed, Flamel!"

"Calm down, Mr. Norman, it was just an accident," Caradoc said, dusting his coat off listlessly.

Lance dumped Nick back onto the ground, looking furious. "An _accident_?" he repeated mockingly, walking towards the professor. "So it was just by chance that we drove off that bridge, too, then?"

"No, _that_ wasn't an accident," Caradoc said coolly, leaning forward on his cane again as he met Lance's glare calmly. "It got us away from our pursuers, did it not?"

"Pursuers who tried to _kill_ us," Lance snapped harshly.

Caradoc raised a single eyebrow. "Is that not why you're here?" he asked, "to protect us on our expedition from all danger?"

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Lance demanded. "I don't have any of my supplies, let alone the fact we have no food and no water."

Rose and the others watched the exchange warily, all coated in the dust from the landslide.

"I told you, we'll get more supplies," Caradoc said, his own eyes narrowed as behind him Milo began to study the dead end wall.

"When? After we follow you to our deaths through some Godforsaken mountain?" Lance asked, his voice steadily rising in pitch.

Caradoc opened his mouth to answer, but then the wall in front of Milo began to shake, and with a squeak Nick dropped back down to the ground.

Caradoc turned around as Milo stepped back, a victorious grin on his face.

"I found the entrance, Professor."

* * *

Roark and Cage were sitting in a booth at a restaurant on the outskirts of Wiltshire, England.

"Still think we should've gone to the boss with this," Cage muttered, looking around suspiciously as the other diners laughed and talked happily over their food.

"I told you," Roark snapped, "if she doesn't show up in the next half hour, _we_ _will_. Now shut up and eat your curly fries."

"I'm serious, mate, he'd want to know about this. If she says she has information on Caradoc—"

"What? You think we're not gonna tell him everything she says?" Roark hissed, cutting him off as his eyes scanned the crowded joint again.

Cage's mouth snapped shut, and he took to glaring down at his plate.

"Still feel uneasy," he muttered after a few minutes of silence.

"And you think I don't?" Roark shook his head in annoyance, and waved the much too keen waitress away as she drifted hopefully in their direction.

From behind him, the door to the restaurant opened, and Cage sat up straighter in his seat. Roark tensed up, but then visibly relaxed as the sound of a child squealing excitedly cut across the room as his family entered.

"Evening, boys," a smooth voice said, and both Roark and Cage started at the woman's sudden appearance.

Roark's eyebrows shot up in surprise as Leah Shields pulled up a chair.

"_You?"_ Cage breathed, looking dumbfounded at Caradoc's assistant.

"Me," she said coolly, all business as she crossed her legs and placed her folded hands on the tabletop.

Except Leah Shields didn't look as professional as she had on the night she paid a visit to the Weasley household. Her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and her searching narrowed eyes weren't hidden behind her dainty glasses.

"Why are you here?" Roark demanded in a low voice, fixing her with a sizing glare of his own.

"You know why I'm here."

"You're gonna sell out your employer?" Cage asked, not believing it.

Something of a sneer flashed across her face. "That's right."

"What's the catch, Shields?" Roark snarled in a warning voice.

"No catch," she said, her eyes merely narrowed slits at this point. "My loyalties lie with the highest bidder."

"And if Caradoc turns out being the highest bidder?"

Leah cocked her head to the side and fixed Roark with another smile. "He won't be."

Silence fell over the table as the two men exchanged looks.

"Do we understand each other, Mr. Roark?" Leah prompted, still smiling as she raised a single eyebrow inquiringly.

With a single nod from Roark, Cage stood up from the booth and exited the restaurant. His partner met Leah's gaze once more.

"You'll tell us Caradoc's whereabouts?" he asked, still wary as he narrowed his eyes again.

"Oh, I can do better than that," she assured him, dangerously sweet. She pulled Cage's abandoned plate of fries towards her before continuing. "I can take you to him."

* * *

"We've been walking for _hours_," Nick complained, his voice echoing around the dark tunnel.

"Technically—we're—crawling," Rose huffed, her face wrinkled with discomfort. "Merlin, it reeks in here."

"Yeah…sorry about that," Nick told everyone sheepishly.

Lance aimed a kick at the young Flamel's face, while Scorpius merely groaned in disgust. "Nice, mate."

"We're almost to the end," Milo called back to them encouragingly.

"You said that half an hour ago when we still had elbow room," Gwen pointed out, uncharacteristically snippy as their small confines began to get to her as well.

Caradoc, who was leading the way with his lit wand clenched tightly in his teeth, suddenly pulled it out.

"Oh, dear," he said softly, though not nearly soft enough.

"Oh, dear?" Lance repeated at once, his voice laced thickly with his ever present anger. "Caradoc…" he growled.

"Mr. Faraday, up here, if you please."

Milo squeezed through to get a good look, blocking everyone else's view of whatever Caradoc was Oh-Dearing about.

Milo let out a low whistle that echoed painfully in their ears because of their close proximity. "That's quite a drop, sir," he said.

"I wish they'd stop doing that," Rose whispered to Scorpius, who nodded.

"What's quite a drop?" Nick asked nervously.

"I don't think it's quite what it seems," Caradoc told Milo, ignoring the others.

"What do you mean—_ARGH!"_

Lance tried to jump up, but smacked his head on the low ceiling as Milo suddenly disappeared through the square opening in the wall.

"What the heck just happened?" he demanded, fixing the back of Caradoc's head with a glare.

A muffled thud issued from the opening and Rose shot Scorpius a look of horror. Caradoc stuck his head through calmly and called Milo's name.

"It's a soft landing!" Milo replied after a minute of tense silence.

"Excellent." Caradoc made as if to climb through, but Lance struck out and seized his wrist. Caradoc slowly looked at him. "Release me, Mr. Norman."

Lance was staring at him with an expression of anger mingled with shock. "Did you push him?" he demanded bluntly.

Dead silence dropped heavily around the group.

Caradoc fixed Lance with an odd look. "Of course not. He slipped." Then, shaking him off, Caradoc dropped through the hole after Milo.

Cautiously, Nick followed, and then Rose. Stony faced, Lance helped Gwen through, and when he saw that Scorpius was the only one left in the tunnel with him, he stared at the Young Malfoy with cold eyes and snarled, "You first."

Scorpius narrowed his eyes. He nodded once, then inched his way towards the opening.

What had he gotten himself into?

* * *

**E/N: **...EH!


End file.
